Content strategy for the social web

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR THE SOCIAL WEB
Charlie Peverett
@cpev
iCrossing UK
by theseanster93 on Flickr

Or:
Editorial people ROCK /
the future is bright /
[but…]

The story so far

The story so far
SEO

The story so far
UX designers
SEO

The story so far
UX designers
SEO
Editors

The story so far
UX designers
SEO
Editors
Ordinary decent citizens

The story so far
UX designers
SEO
Web
2 point Tot0
Editors

The story so far
UX designers
SEO
I just want to go home
Web
2 point Tot0
Editors

An editorial approach brings:
Audience focus
Trust
Quality
Control
Hurray!

Audience focus
Trust
Quality
Control
Hurray! Job done.

Audience focus
Trust
Quality
Control
Hurray! Job done. Satsuma for everyone.

Audience focus
Trust
Quality
Control
Hurray! Job done. Satsuma for everyone. Yes?

No.
Because these attributes are important
but insufficient
and it’s editorial people who need to get their heads around that
by understanding the true nature of attention on the web.

“This ain’t no Field of Dreams”
- savvy iCrossing client, 2010
Image by theseanster93 on Flickr

Power Law Distribution
One of the ‘fundamental laws everyone ignores’ - Mark Higginson, iCrossing

Power Law Distribution
“…power law distributions tend to arise in social systems where many people express their preferences among many options” - Clay Shirky

“Though there are more new bloggers and more new readers every day, most of the new readers are adding to the traffic of the top few blogs, while most new blogs are getting below average traffic, a gap that will grow as the weblog world does.
“It's not impossible to launch a good new blog and become widely read, but it's harder than it was last year, and it will be harder still next year.”
- Clay Shirky
http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html

“Though there are more new bloggers and more new readers every day, most of the new readers are adding to the traffic of the top few blogs, while most new blogs are getting below average traffic, a gap that will grow as the weblog world does.
“It's not impossible to launch a good new blog and become widely read, but it's harder than it was last year, and it will be harder still next year.”
- Clay Shirky (2003!)
http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html

What does this mean for content strategy?
It means we have to locate where attention flows, use that knowledge to help us focus our activities
– on our own spaces, in social media and on third-party sites – recruit the necessary skillsto deliver the content accordingly and measure the right things.

1. Locate relevant attention
by Manitoba Historical Maps on Flickr

5
Find the most relevant sites with the most engaged audiences

Content profiling
35

Content profiling
A quantitative (binary!) way to quickly assess content types and sources on relevant sites
36

Content profiling
A quantitative (binary!) way to quickly assess content types and sources on relevant sites
Helps to identify ‘must-have’ content by topic - and possible gaps in provision
37

Maps and Routes
38

Maps and Routes
Provided by 3rd party (e.g. Google Maps)
39

Image galleries
40

Content destinations
41

Content destinations
[widest offering of content types]
42

Few sites offer competitions
43

Few sites offer competitions
[opportunity?]
44

2. Focus activity where you can compete
by See-mingLee 李思明 SML

Socially Designed
Content Services
outreach
adaptation
et. al.
EXAMPLE
niche
‘feeder’ site
‘social space’
link benefit
optimised page for search
highly
important site
main website
post to page / profile
direct fans to content
post to channel /
post on site page
embeds assets
other
relevant sites
‘media centre’
data-collection
and segmentation
conversion
funnel
sales / sign-ups, etc.

Socially Designed
Content Services
outreach
adaptation
et. al.
EARNED / PAID
MEDIA
niche
‘feeder’ site
‘social space’
link benefit
EARNED / PAID
MEDIA
OWNED
MEDIA
highly
important site
main client site
post to channel /
post on site page
embeds assets
other
relevant sites
client ‘media centre’
data-collection
and segmentation
conversion
funnel

For example, getting attention for iCrossing’s views on contentstrategy:

[shameless plug]

[shameless plug]
[shameless plug]

Guest blog post by iCrossingebook author
outreach
adaptation
blog
link benefit
main website
other
relevant sites
iCrossing.co.uk
Qualified traffic referred to iCrossingebook landing page
sign-ups

3. Recruit the right skills
by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

SKILLS FOCUS
Socially Designed
Content Services
outreach
adaptation
et. al.
COMMUNITY
MANAGEMENT
niche
‘feeder’ site
‘social space’
link benefit
OUTREACH /
ONLINE PR
WEB EDITING
highly
important site
main client site
post to channel /
post on site page
embeds assets
other
relevant sites
client ‘media centre’
data-collection
and segmentation
conversion
funnel

In essence, we need:

Pedants

Pedants
[editorial types, and creative content producers]

by Flickr user M31

Partygoers
by Flickr user M31

Partygoers
[this is my idea of how PR people spend their time]
by Flickr user M31

[and finally we MUST]

4. Measure the right stuff
by Flickr user Laineys Repertoire

In summary:
1. Locate the attention
2. Focus where wecan compete
3. Recruit the right skills
4. Measure the right stuff

Thanks!
Charlie Peverett
@cpev
Content Strategist
iCrossing UK

Image credits
Baseball image by Flickr user theseanster93, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike2.0 Generic Licence
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theseanster93/1152356149/
Satsuma image licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 License by the Soil-Net Library at Cranfield University http://www.soil-net.com/album/Plants/Fruit_Veg/slides/FruitVeg%20Satsuma.html
Map image by Flickr user Manitoba Historical Maps, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence http://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2089812938/
Birdhouse image by Flickr user See-ming Lee 李思明 SML licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic licence http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/2149309015/in/photostream/
Arthus C Clarke quote image by Flickr user TheAlienessGiselaGiardino²³ licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic licence http://www.flickr.com/photos/gi/518613153/in/photostream/
Street party at night image by Flickr user M31 under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence http://www.flickr.com/photos/morphomir/2407451929/
Ruler image by Flickr user Laineys Repertoire licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence http://www.flickr.com/photos/76283671@N00/184612846/
Cliché swear box and LoremIpsum t-shirt images by @cpev
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpev

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Content strategy for the social web

by Charlie Peverett on Sep 13, 2011

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